Woman with trolley hospitalised after 'disappearing' into street hole

Passers-by heard a loud scream and seen a woman disappearing into the sinkhole

A woman was taken to hospital after she disappeared with a shopping trolley into a hole which opened up in a busy high street.

Passers-by said they heard a loud scream and turned round to see the woman had fallen down the hole outside a cafe in Fulham, west London.

Locals and cafe staff rushed outside to help the woman, who stumbled into the 3ft (1m) wide crevice just before 9am this morning.

It came shortly after a man fell down the hole and twisted his ankle, locals said. The area around the hole had been blocked off with tables and chairs early this morning in an attempt to stop passers-by walking into it, stall holders said.

But despite shouts by cafe staff, the woman is said to have squeezed through the chairs and fallen down the hole.

A flower stall owner, who asked not to be named, said: "A man came running out of the cafe.

"The hole had been blocked off with tables and chairs but she had squeezed through and went straight down.

"She didn't have a pram or a buggy, it was a shopping trolley. The shop owner was shouting out to her 'Don't come through there'.

"We looked over and she was down, all the way down the hole. She had walked onto it and it had collapsed beneath her."

He and other stall holders dashed over to help the woman, who is believed to be in her 40s.

The stall holder said: "The gentleman came out of the cafe to help her. He was really, really worried.